Traveling sprinklers are known in the art. Examples of traveling sprinkler devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,156 (“the '156 patent”); U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,859 (“the '859 patent”); U.S. Pat. No. 2,683,056 (“the '056 patent”); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,490 (“the '490 patent”), which are incorporated herein by reference. Such sprinkler systems can be used to irrigate land in various domestic, agricultural and other settings.
While traveling sprinklers are often multi-part assemblages, such devices commonly include at least the following components: a wheeled frame, a hose reel rotatably mounted on the wheeled frame, a rotatable sprinkler head, and a drive for transmitting the rotation of the sprinkler to the hose reel. The assembly can also provide a coupling to which one end of a hose or other fluid supply conduit can be connected. At least a portion of the remaining length of the hose can be wrapped around the hose reel. The other end of the hose can be connected to a fluid source, such as an outdoor water faucet. The assembly can further include a routing conduit, extending between the coupling and the sprinkler head, for directing a fluid received from the hose to the sprinkler head.
In operation, the sprinkler assembly can be reeled out to a desired spot in a yard. At that point, the assembly could be set to operate as a moving sprinkler. Water enters and is discharged from the sprinkler head, causing the sprinkler head to rotate as is known in the art; the motion of the sprinkler head can then be used to propel the sprinkler assembly. For instance, the rotating sprinkler head can drive a gearbox that rotates the hose reel so as to wrap the length of hose around the hose reel as the assembly rolls back to the water source. As it travels, the sprinkler assembly can use the uncoiled portion of the hose as a track to guide the assembly.
Such sprinkler systems can save a user the manual effort of winding the hose back up after watering. Further, the sprinkler system allows the user to design a desired watering path and obtain coverage that a fixed or static sprinkler system could not ordinarily achieve. While providing these and other advantages, previous traveling sprinkler systems are limited because they can only be used as sprinklers. From the perspective of a consumer, this lone operational mode may not justify the expense of the device. Thus, there is a need for a traveling sprinkler that can provide additional uses or functions, particularly watering or irrigation-related functions.